"I Get Wet" reassessed

Earlier today, the "33 1/3" series announced 18 new titles to be issued in 2013 and 2014, and at the very top of the list (benefiting from alphabetical placement) is the curious and exciting inclusion of Andrew WK's I Get Wet. http://www.33third.blogspot.com/2012/08/18-new-titles.html

Coincidentally, today is also the day Pitchfork posted their rating of the I Get Wet reissue. Ryan Schreiber's original rating of 0.6 issued 10 years ago has been reassessed with 8 ENTIRE POINTS added onto it, possibly the most drastic reassessment between two reviews of the same album ever issued on Pitchfork... (somewhat conjuring memories of Rolling Stone's fabled initial reviews of the first Black Sabbath records, later reassessed by the same magazine with 30 years hindsight as five-star records...)

Here's the original review: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/184-i-get-wet/

And here's what they're saying about it today: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16836-i-get-wet/

At one point, the reassessment would have bothered us... If this happened 5 or 6 years ago, we may have asked, "Why couldn't they have just been opened minded enough to realize this in the first place?!?!"

Pitchfork's various reassessments have proven bothersome in the past, such as in 1999 when their "90's album canon" was posted without any hiphop records, leaving them no choice but to reassess this list in 2003. While their hiphop inclusions were necessary, they were unfortunately forced to exclude several transcendent classics such as Blur's 13, Hum's Downward Is Heavenward and Sebadoh's Bakesale... As well as bands like Chavez, Polvo, Superchunk and Spoon whose 90's output seems to have grown in popularity significantly throughout the past three years of unexpectedly heightened 90's revivalism.

However, in the case of I Get Wet, we couldn't be happier... The reassessment also makes sense, seeing as how it's probably the most forward-thinking party record of the past 10 years... At the time, no one could have expected its effect on music, which has probably been most prevalent since 2009 with the emergence of Calvin Harris, Ke$ha, Brokencyde, Attack Attack, Skrillex, or even Rebecca Black's "Friday." To some extent, they've all benefited from Andrew WK laying down the "extreme party" blueprint.

We'll have to wait and see if these reassessments turn into a more common occurrence... (For example, Pitchfork has yet to acknowledge System Of A Down's Toxicity which is probably among the 10 best records of the 2000's.) As of right now, we fully support the fresh perspectives.